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Published on
Nov 3, 2024 at 6:46 a.m.
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Law student at Cornell University in New York State, Romane Martin, 23 years old, fromAlençon (Orne), is fully experiencing the electoral campaign which is currently being played out within the framework of the 2024 American presidential election.
No secrecy of the ballot boxes
“The subject is at the heart of current affairs and all conversations, especially on my campus which is hyperpoliticized,” underlines the young woman.
This is achieved through “the presence of active people on campus to ensure that American students are registered to vote.”
Outside the campus, “all the gardens of the city's houses have the candidate sign that they support.”
Unlike France “where the secrecy of the ballot box is mandatory”, the United States “is very open on the subject and people are not afraid to say and show who they support and who they will vote for.
New York State Blue Thanks to NYC
Within her university, which she defines as “pro-democratic”, Romane rather feels students “ against Trump and rather in favor of Harris “. Just like the city of Ithaca “which is full of students!” »
New York State is won by the Democratic camp “because New York City is and there are so many voters in NYC. But when you walk outside, and especially on the path that leads to Canada, you see a lot of Trump signs in the gardens. Outside of NYC, people are more conservativethe Republican values are different.”
“They want to know who we would vote for”
Romane and her non-American classmates in her class say they are “very interested” in the event. But remain very impartial. “
We do not choose sides but we are fully aware of experiencing a historical fact.
To the point of surrendering in Washington, November 5, 2024“for the count at the Capitol.”
The interest of international students at Cornell in the American election does not go unnoticed by their American counterparts. “They would like to know who we would vote for,” smiles Romane. But she and her French friends kick in. “We tell them that it’s very different here.” So, they come back to attack.
They ask us if Emmanuel Macron is a Democrat or Republican.
Here again, Romane retreats. “We tell them that things are less clear-cut here! »
“Gender will not influence the vote”
Does a woman as President of the United States delight or frighten Americans? “In my student microcosm and from what I have heard, there is no sexism. Whether the candidate is a man or a woman will not influence the vote. Gender is not something that blocks voters around me. »
What surprises him more is the calm in which the campaign is taking place.
I expected it to be more tense. But it's not like that at all. There is no barrier for example in front of the university, just people who are there to register the students.
According to the young Frenchwoman, “the tension is more in the media because where I live, people don't talk about the election that much. I don't have not seen any distribution of badges or flyers in favor of this or that candidate, there was also no conference made by one camp or the other.”
“They identify with their party”
One thing is certain according to Romane: “American students are less agitated on the subject than French students! ”, she laughs.
At the Sorbonne, during the early legislative elections, there was tension and a blockade. Here at Cornell, there is none of that.
At Columbia “where the university is even more politicized” than Cornell, students “debate among themselves but they don’t try to convince each other.” In reality, according to Romane, “the split between the two camps, Republicans and Democrats, is as it seems impossible to make an activist change. And then, very often, they are Republicans or Democrats for many generations, they identify with their party which represents part of their identity, which is not the case in France or much less than in the United States.”
She takes the New York bar exam
Romane Martin is originally from Alençon. She completed her schooling at the Masson school then at the Racine college and the Alain high school before heading to Angers for a law degree including a year in Brussels to specialize in European law. She then joined the University of Paris-1-Panthéon-Sorbonne for a master's degree in “Arbitration and International Trade Law”.
This new school year is taking place across the Atlantic. Precisely in the United States, at Cornell University in the city of Ithaca in the State of New York where she is enrolled in an LL.M (master) in American Law.
Like many students in his LL.M class, Romane will simultaneously take the New York bar exam at the end of the year. “This may allow me to find a job in the USA but I am not closing any doors and I will see depending on the opportunities that present themselves to me after this year of studies”, confides the young woman, aware that with this American background, she will be able to practice her profession as a lawyer in international business law “anywhere in the world”.
The one who “loves to travel” had already set foot on American soil “for a month-long vacation when I was 10” but saw it there as her first immersion as a student.
Its LL.M program is “specially designed for foreigners” and its class is “mainly composed of Chinese students”. “The Europeans are mainly represented by the Germans first, then the French and the South Americans by the Colombians,” explains Romane.
But these foreign students represent a very small proportion of students at this law university “made up mainly of American students from all states”.
Sept swing states
This is why attention is focused on the sept « swing states » of this 2024 election (Arizona, North Carolina, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin). Where the other states seem definitively red or blue, the pivotal or key states are not won by either of the two candidates in the running and can therefore swing the American election in favor of the Democratic camp or the Republican camp.
Verdict Tuesday, November 5 (Wednesday November 6, 2024 upon awakening in France).
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